Tornado Table

     The next piece I decided to make was a kitchen table.

    

     Because of the bay windows on my dollhouse, I needed a round table to have room for the doll family. I looked all through the house for something round to put as the top that was proportionate in the space. Finally I found the lid to a Christmas container in my room (don't ask). It was red and had snowflakes on it, but I coated it in three layers of leftover cream wall paint. Now you can't see the bright red through it at all.

    

     The hardest part was finding the base. I rifled through every one's stuff to try and find anything that might work. My back-up pan was an empty thread spindle, but it didn't look very good. While I was lying on the middle of my bedroom floor in despair, I noticed a bag full of wooden coins I had on my dresser. I don't now why in the world I had them, or what I ever would have used them for, but I have decided that maybe keeping random stuff in case I "need it later" isn't so bad after all.

    

     After I found the coins, I tried to put them in a stack that wasn't just a plain tower. This is what I came up with:



Upright view of base



Upside down view of base



     I call this a "Tornado Table". The coins are in a spiraling pattern that looks like a spiral staircase, or a tornado. I thought about staining the wood, but I decided I like the way the natural wood looks.

    

     I was going to make a table cloth to cover the giant cavern encircling the top of the table, but I have decided that the table looks better that way. A little "vintage chic", if you will.

     Or at least that's what I'm saying.

     We will ignore my multiple failed attempts at a round table cloth.

     Unless I burst into tears.

     Again.

     ..........

    

     Anyway, that's the end of this. Some random facts:

• I went crazy with the glue gun, as you can see by all the glue stuck to the base.
• I just winged it with the pattern, gluing as I went., which is why it is a little crooked.
• I don't really think it looks "vintage chic" at all.
• My family lied to me and said they loved it.
• I made up a story for my doll family about how they acquired it.
• The story involves rich hillbillies, starving lobster farmers, and goodhearted pirates.
• I think every family needs one hideous piece of furniture.

Sectional Sofa

     Today I finished my first furniture piece, a modular sofa in the IKEA style.

     It was fairly easy to make. To make the base I stapled fabric to part of two L shaped piece of cardboard, then I added fluff in between the layers to make it wider, and after I got the right height I stapled the rest of the fabric. I made the sides and back the same way, but stapled the fabric where you can't see it with the cushions on. The I hot glued the sides and back, leaving the bottom edge slightly sticking out so it creates the legs of the sofa. For the front two legs, I found two classy looking white beads to glue on, and they don't look too bad.

 

All of the pieces (top view)





All of the pieces (bottom view)



     Then I made the cushions. I didn't like the way they looked originally, so I tufted them, which made them look so much more realistic. The one super long cushion I made to cover up a mistake. When I first made this couch, I didn't make a back and had a wide piece of foam as the back that also doubled as a cushion to make it look a little modern, but it looked terrible. I took that piece off and made a back, then made the long cushion to made the surface of the couch level. I don't really like the way it looks, but I worked too hard on this to change it now.

     After all that, I made the back cushions. This part definitely made it look more like a sofa. Last I made the accent pillows. This was probably the hardest. I have NO idea how pillows have all their seams on the inside. I would have tried to figure out a way, but I was a little too excited that I was almost done.

    

     So, that's it.

    

     Some random stuff:

• The material I used was from an old pair of pants.
• Yes, the front right cushion is crooked.
• I eyeballed the scaling.
• There is fuzz sticking out of the center corner because I cut my fabric too short, but was running out of staples so I couldn't redo it.
• I only know what tufted means because my mom walked by and said "Ooh tufted cushions".
• She now wants me to make a life-sized one for our living room.
• It took me days to make what I could have in a few hours, because I'm a lazy bum.

Wallpaper

     One of the biggest money wasters in the dollhouse world is wallpaper. You can buy a package of 18 or 21 assorted patterns for $9.99 at least (not guaranteeing that you would like them), or you could buy a single pattern for $5.99 - $12.99 depending on the designer (not guaranteeing enough to cover your room completely, depending on the room size). As you can see, I can not afford this option, but I have put together a list of options for you.

• 1 - Printing your own Designs
• A very popular alternative is to find a design online that you like and then print it. You could also put a background on a Microsoft Word document if you like any of those and print that out.
• Some problems with printing is the paper may be soggy because of the ink on the flimsy paper, but there are many types of paper out there, so this might not be a problem. But what is a problem is when you put it on the wall, there are more edges to match up because the paper is not very big. This may be a problem if you want the walls to look more like a real house, because actual wallpaper doesn't have that many seams.
• 2 - Scrapbooking Paper
• By far my favorite method. Most crafters already have scrapbooking paper, and if you don't it's usually pretty cheap (mine was 49 cents a sheet). It feels like modern wallpaper, and comes in every design imaginable, so it's a great option for a realistic "now" house.
• 3 - Stenciling
• On design shows I always see someone tape out a design or use a wall stencil to paint a design onto a wall. This option is the cheapest if you already have paint, and could end up being the most creative. You could also freehand it, but I'm way too big of a chicken to do that.

First post

I'm starting this blog in case you, like me, love miniatures, but can hardly afford the hobby. My first dollhouse kit that I got for this year is the Painted Lady by Real Good Toys. I felt kind of bad asking for it because it was so much money and Christmases are always hard for my family, but it was the only thing I asked for, so I didn't feel extremely bad. I'm already halfway into it, and have had to get really creative to save money. I have decided that I will have to make almost all of my own furniture, but I've decided that's not really a bad thing. All the furniture I see is either too victorian or too modern for my normal dollhouse, and making your own is the best way to get the look you want. I am not an architect or interior designer, but I've always wanted to be. I am following my dreams the best I can, and I want to help you do that too.